Air Force
Kownacki: Gulfstream G550 Selected as the VIP Aircraft. French Offer Not Compliant with the Formal Requirements
According to the information released by the Polish Vice-Minister of Defence, Bartosz Kownacki, during a meeting wit the press, the US based Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation company was awarded with a procurement contract in the VIP Aircraft tender. Gulfstream Aerospace offered G550 jets, capable of carrying 16 passengers onboard. Value of the deal is defined as PLN 440.57 million, and this amount refers to two aircraft.
When it comes to the smaller aircraft, the tender is approaching its final point now. Two tenderers submitted their offers, whereas one of the bidders did not meet the formal requirements - the French bidder. The second bidder meets all of the formal requirements, here we are referring to the Gulfstream G550 jet offer, with the jet being manufactured by General Dynamics.
The requirement which was not complied with by the French company was the delivery term and deadline, as it was required by the Polish Ministry of Defence for the aircraft to be received before November 2017. The value of the deal, also including the training and logistics bundle, was estimated as PLN 430 million. Dassault Aviation company proposed that two Falcon 7X aircraft are procured with a price tag of PLN 454 million. The delivery was to take place in April and November 2018. Falcon 7X is a popular business jet, and the French manufacturer delivers the airframes to a long queue of clients.
American Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., a part of the General Dynamics company, is the winning bidder. The offer submitted concerns delivery of two Gulfstream G550 jets, at a price of PLN 440.57 million. The delivery is expected to happen in August 2017, which is also a date compliant with the assumptions made by the Polish Ministry of Defence. The aircraft are expected to utilize a proper communications suite which would allow the crew to maintain permanent communications through encrypted satellite connections during the flight and on the ground, along with an IFF system compliant with the NATO standards.
Gulfstream G550 jets are being utilized for the VIP transport purposes by several governments, including the US government. G550, within the operational structure of the US Air Force, bear the C-37B designation. They are used to transport the POTUS domestically, which means that G-550 becomes the “Air Force One”. C-37C version is being operated by the US Navy, on the other hand.